The present invention relates to an impact-absorbing device for a door of a motor vehicle, the door being in the form of a roughly parallelepipedal hollow box which has an upper face and a lower face and in which is arranged a glass panel capable of sliding substantially vertically between a lowered position in which it is substantially retracted into the box and a raised position in which it is substantially deployed through the opening of the upper face, the absorbing device being arranged in a lower region of the box and comprising two shock-absorbing blocks defining a passageway for the glass panel therebetween.
In known devices of that type, the two shock-absorbing blocks are completely unconnected in order to form a space defining the passageway for the glass panel and are constituted by separate components mounted independently in the box during the operation of manufacturing the door. Each of the blocks is secured independently of the other to the adjacent lateral inner wall of the box.
However, such devices are not entirely satisfactory for the reasons given hereinafter.
First of all, the space formed between the two absorbing blocks constitutes a discontinuity of material which is detrimental to the impact-absorbing performance of the device, the space being empty and devoid of deformation members. The space has no other function than to define the passageway for the glass panel, and therefore constitutes wasted space.
Moreover, the time taken to mount the blocks in the door box and the number of securing points required, owing to the fact that the blocks are mounted separately, are not optimum.
In addition, sealing on the side where the interior face of the door is located is effected by a sealing sheet which extends from the upper portion of the box as far as its lower portion, passing into the space provided for the passage of the glass panel in order to avoid the regions for securing the adjacent absorbing block to the respective inner face of the box. Such an arrangement of the sealing sheet necessitates a delicate operation of adhesively bonding the sheet, even though this sheet arrangement does not ensure optimum sealing.
The invention aims principally to overcome those disadvantages.
For that purpose, a device for absorbing impact energy for a door of a motor vehicle according to the invention comprises movable members for mechanical connection between the shock-absorbing blocks, each of those members being arranged in the passageway for the glass panel in order to assume an active position, in the absence of the glass panel, in which it ensures mechanical continuity between the blocks and constitutes a supplementary component for absorbing impact energy, and in order to move out of the way to assume an inactive position when the glass panel passes through.
According to other features of the invention:
the movable members are flaps pivoting about a respective hinge part which is fixedly joined to at least one of the blocks, the hinge part being provided with a resilient member which returns the flap to its active position;
each flap has a substantially flat face defining a principal plane and, when the flap is in the active position, the principal plane extends substantially horizontally;
the hinge parts are fixedly joined to an intermediate component secured to one of the blocks;
notches are formed in at least one of the blocks, facing each hinge part, in such a manner as to form an abutment for a free end portion of the respective flap, thus defining the active position of the flap;
the movable members and the blocks are formed from the same material; and
the blocks are secured to a common anchoring component which is itself rigidly fixed to the box.
The invention relates also to a motor vehicle door comprising an absorbing device as described above.
According to another feature, a motor vehicle door according to the invention comprises a sealing sheet adhesively bonded to a face of the box arranged towards the interior of the vehicle in order to cover a face of the corresponding block, which face is opposite the face thereof defining the passageway for the glass panel.